BEFORE: This time, Catherine Keener carries over from "Friends With Money". Another relationship picture puts me one step closer to my next chain.
THE PLOT: A recently divorced guy meets the woman of his dreams. Then he meets her son.
AFTER: This one had some promise, because both main actors play sad-sack roles pretty well. But my fear was that this would be another depressing film about relationships floundering and failing.
But the main character, a divorced man played by John C. Reilly (last seen in "Casualties of War") manages to fail upwards - hmm, I think that's called "succeeding" - by meeting and dating a beautiful woman who seems to be just who he's looking for to pull him out of his funk.
The difference here is that by playing a man with low self-esteem, who wants to have a solid relationship but just can't seem to pull it together, though his intentions are good, we the audience are on his side. At least I was, whereas last night I just wanted the people on the screen to pull their heads out of their asses and either improve their situations, or stop moping about them.
Last night's characters had rich-person problems, like worrying about what the neighbors think of the construction noise while they're remodeling their home. But the conflict tonight comes from the girlfriend's son, who may or may not be trying to sabotage this new relationship. It's ambiguous for a while, which seems like a sign of good writing. If it were too obvious right off, the certainty would get us to the main conflict too quickly - a little doubt, and we've got uncertainty, which becomes a sort of mystery.
Plus, it seems like a fairly common real-world situation, dating someone with a child (an adult child, in this case) who has to be placated, or at least dealt with. The two men essentially battle for the affections of the woman caught in the middle, though of course she expresses her affections in different ways. It's a bit too pat to assume that she can't share her love with both her boyfriend and her son, in different ways obviously - and she probably could, but the men engage in a battle of wits anyway. Because that's what men do.
Also starring Jonah Hill (last seen in "Moneyball"), Marisa Tomei (last heard in "The Wild Thornberrys Movie"), Matt Walsh.
RATING: 5 out of 10 keyboards
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